Refrigerating apparatus



Oct. 6, 1931. J. G. 'KING 1,825,698

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 30, 1927 Patented @et 6, 1231 ananas JESSE Gr. KING, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO FR-IGDIRE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE REFRIGERATNG APPARATUS Application iiled September 30, 1927. Serial No. 223,076.

r1`his invention relates to'refrigerating apparatus particularly to the form of refrigerating element arid its arrangement in household refrigerator cabinets. i

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved and simplified form of evaporator which is effective to cool circulating air in a cabinet-and to freeze ice for table use, and which may be placed within a conned space.

Another object of the invention is to improve and simplify the arrangement and construction of evaporators to reduce their cost of manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from they following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

1n the drawings v F ig. 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator ycabinet having the improved refrigerating element therein; u Fig. 2 is a vertical section through'the cabinet showing the refrigerating element 1n elevation; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the refrlgeratmg element as viewed from below.

Evaporators for the dual purpose of chill. ing circulating hir to cool a refrlgerating cabinet and for freezing ice for table use have heretofore been constructed in accordance with my Patent No. 1,654,504 patented Dec.

' 2'?, 1927, and usually include a header which forms a reservoir. for liquid refrigerant and a number of loops of tubing depending from the header. for circulating refrigerant. These loops are arranged to enclose a freezing space, in which are placed shallow pans for freezing ice for table use, and also to extend out- Wardly beyond the freezing space to chill circulatingair for cooling the cabinet. The freezing space hasbeen comparatively sheltered from circulating air, one set of tubes being provided principally for ice freezing, and another set for the principal purpose of cooling the circulating air. r1`hese evaporators have usually been placed in a corner of the cabinet and leave an L-shaped storage compartment for food as shown in the application of Harry B. Hull, filed May 30, 1923, Serial No. 642,369. lVhile this arrangement is very effective, the refrigerating element occupies a rather large amount of space. in the case of small cabinets, for instance for apartment house use, the provision of considerable space for food storage is very iinportant. rllhis reduces to a small amount the space available for the refrigerating element in thecabinet. if refrigerating elements of the form previously described are used the legs of the Lfshaped storage compartment' may be so narrow or short as to be practically useless. Moreover, it is wasteful of space to devote one set of tubes to'freezing ice and another set to the cooling of circulating air;

1n accordance with my invention provide an evaporator. which is very compact and tlat, and which may be disposed entirely across the top of a cabinet thus leaving a substantially cubical space for the storage of food. if also construct the evaporator so that the ice freezing 'and air cooling elements are combined and space is thus conserved.

Referring to the drawings, particularly Fig; 2, my evaporator includes an elongated and preferably cylindrical header 10 which forms a reservoir for liquid refrigerant, and a plurality of conduit means for circulating refrigerant which extend laterally beside the header. Preferably each conduit means is in the form of a serpentine tube 11 connected at each end to the. header below the liquid level, and lying in a horizontal plane which is substantially tangent to the bottom of the header. referaby two such conduits are used, one on each side of the header. @n top of, and preferably soldered to the serpentine tube, is a sleeve or pocket 12 forming a coinpartment for an ice-making container 13. rihe tube 1l extends back and forth across substantially the entire bottom surface of the compartment. The compartment is preferably of such dimensions as to lie within the height of the header.-

The evaporator is supported in the top of the cabinet in any suitable manner (as by straps 14 bolted to the top wall of the cabinet) and is placed as near to the top wall as frost- ,3,3 case of ing conditions will permit. It will be understood that during operation the evaporator becomes coated with frost, and sutlicient space must be left around the evaporator for this frost to form without touching the walls of the cabinet, for if it were permitted to touch the walls this would increase the heat leakage into the cabinet and cause the walls to sweat. Accordingly a space 15 in dicated in Fig. 2 is left between the header and the-top of the cabinet.

Surrounding the evaporator within the cabinet is a U-shaped partition which scparates the cabinet into a cooling compartment 21 anda storage compartment 22. This partition extends substantially across the entire width of the cabinet leaving only air circulating flues 23 on either side. Openings 24 admit warm air from the cabinet to the cooling compartment'and an opening 25 admits cold air from the cooling compartment to the storage compartment. -Preferably the bottom wall of the partition is provided with a drip pan 26 and a bafile 27 for the opening, the drip p an being separated from the partition by an insulating air space 28 as more fully described in the patent of George F. Hefferberth, No. l1,768,598 patented duly 1, 1930. The front of the coolingcompartment is preferably closed by a wall 29 which has openings to admit the ice-making containers 13.

The air circulates as shown by the arrows in Fig..2, upwardly through the flues 23 and downwardly over the enclosures for the icemaking containers, thence under the tubes 11 and out through theV opening 25. In this manner the tubes 11 serve two purposes, namely, cooling the compartments for the icemaking receptacles and cooling the circulat- -'T ing air which flows under and in contact With them. It will be noted. however, that the enclosures themselves form large surfaces projecting into the path of the circulating air. Consequently these compartments also serve to cool the circulating air.

If space requirements permit I prefer to attach a vertical serpentine iin 31 to each of the serpentine coils 11.y This fin extends downwardly any desired distance from the coil and assists in cooling air''circulating under the coil.

It will beA observed that the evaporator above described effectively cools circulating air and that it is provided with considerable ice capacity. Nevertheless the entire evaporator may be containedwithin the height of the header and consequently permit the installation of the evaporator in a very thin space. This is a decided advantage in the small cabinets as it increases the permits the construction of a foco compartment of a convenient and economical shape. `While the form of embodiment of the ini vention as herein disclosed, constitutes a pre- .ferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, allcoming within the scope ofthe claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus including a header 'forming a reservoir for liquid refrigerantLa serpentine tube connected at its ends to the header below the liquid level thereof and disposed in a substantially horizontal plane at one side of the header, and a compartment for an ice-making container supported on the upper side of the tube.

2. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus including a header forming a reservoir for liquid refrigerant, a serpentine tube connected at its ends to the header below the liquid level thereof and disposed in a substantially horizontal plane at one side of the header, a compartment for an ice-making con tainer supported on the upper side ofthe tube, and a vertical serpentine fin attached to the tube and extending below'it.

3. Refrigerating apparatus including a cabinet; a partition dividing the cabinet into a cooling compartment and a storage compartment, the cooling compartment occupying substantially the entire width of the cabinet; and a shallow flat refrigerating element extending substantially the entire width'of the cooling compartment .and including a header forming a reservoir for liquid refrigerant, conduit means for circulating refrigerant extending substantially horizontally from the header, and a compart- .ment for an ice-making receptacle supported on and above the conduit means and projecting into the path of air circulating through the cooling compartment.

4. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus including a header forming a reservoir for liquidrefrigerant. a tube connected at its ends to the header below the liquid level thereof and disposed in a substantially horizontal plane at one side of lthe header, and a compartment Afor an ice-making container supported on the upper side of the tube.

5. An evaporator for refrigerating apparatus including a 'header forming a reservoir for liquid refrigerant, a conduit means connected tothe header and disposed entirely below the liquid level thereof and in a substantially horizontal plane at one side of the header, and a compartment for an ice-making f coptainer supported on the upper side of the, tu e.

In testimony whereof I1 hereto afiix my signature.

l JESSE G. KING. 

